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Thursday, October 2, 2008
Sony unveils digital book with touch screen
Hoping to stir the sleepy electronic book market and steal some of the spotlight from Amazon.com’s Kindle, Sony Electronics is unveiling its latest Reader Digital Book this evening in New York.
Sony’s PRS-700, shipping to retailers this month and selling for about $400, is a sleek black slab with a 6-inch touch screen instead of the Kindle’s physical keyboard or the buttons of older Sony models.
Swiping a finger back and forth can turn the pages.
The PRS-700 holds about 320 books in its internal memory and has slots for SD memory cards and Sony’s Memory Sticks to store thousands more. It can also play back unsecured MP3s and AAC audio files.
The nearly 9-ounce device also includes an LED light for reading the digital ink screen in the dark. Sony says the book’s rechargeable battery lasts for up to 7,500 continuous page turns on a single charge.
In July, Sony changed its e-book business model, opening up its Readers to books in the Epub format from stores other than its own. It was a way to fight back against Amazon, which now offers more than 180,000 titles for its $359 Kindle.
While rumors circulated this summer about an upcoming sequel to the Kindle, an Amazon spokesman has reportedly said the earliest time frame for a new version is next year.
